So Lonely
by Girl in a White Dress
Summary: Miscellaneous drabbles.
1. World's Best Boss

Title: World's Best Boss  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
For hc100 challenge 1 _bosses_.

* * *

She's comfortable with the game they play. It's safe to flirt within the bounds of their boss/employee relationship.

She knows it's just an excuse. Neither of them will admit to being afraid. They're a lot like each other in that regard.

(A lot like each other in many ways – Now's not the time to go there.)

She's still trying to deal with the scars of her past. She's not sure what he's scared of – maybe losing someone he loves?

So she keeps playing the game, buys him a mug saying _World's Best Boss_, and waits for the rules to change.


	2. Surprises

Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
For challenge #2: surprises.

* * *

She's usually able to sense his presence. It's some primal part of her, she thinks. Pheromones. A connection neither of them can explain.

Today, there's no warning. No sense of his eyes on her, no tingle running from the base of her spine up to her neck.

She's peering through the microscope, trying to line up striations on bullets from two different crime scenes, when there's a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey."

She jumps, whirls around, her hand flying to her heart (as if to slow her suddenly-racing pulse).

"Good Lord, Horatio! You startled me."

He smiles, and is forgiven.


	3. Confrontations

Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
Rating: PG  
A/N: For challenge #3 _confrontations_.

* * *

"You're in love with her, aren't you?"

"Yelina—"

She slaps him across the face, cutting off whatever he was going to say. Then, immediately regretting it, "I'm sorry."

He says nothing.

"Does she know about—" This is surprisingly difficult. "—Susie? And Madison?"

Horatio bows his head.

"I never had a chance, did I?"

There's sorrow in his eyes. Because he loves her? Or just because he doesn't want to hurt her?

Does it matter?

"We're family, Yelina. I'll always care for you."

She wants to hate Calleigh, but that's strangely impossible. So she smiles and walks away.


	4. Beyond the Sea

Title: Beyond The Sea  
Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
A/N: For csidrabbles challenge #8. Crossover between CSI Miami and The Little Mermaid.

Calleigh stares at the body on the sand, suddenly glad it's early evening and the beach is nearly deserted. She watches as Alexx touches the girl's waist, scarcely able to believe what she's seeing.

"These scales are real," Alexx says.

"You mean she's part fish?"

"I believe the correct term is 'mermaid'," Horatio comments dryly.

Calleigh blinks, sure she must be dreaming.

No such luck.

The _mermaid_ is beautiful, with large green eyes and long red hair. She doesn't look older than sixteen.

Calleigh has the sudden thought that the girl beached herself, and wonders what made her do that.


	5. CSI: Emerald City

Title: CSI: Emerald City  
Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
A/N: For csidrabbles challenge #9 _new CSI city_. It could also fall under challenge #8, I guess.

Three munchkins slowly approach the crime scene. The tallest of the three (at a lofty three-foot, one-inch) removes his sunglasses and frowns.

"What do you think, Molly?"

The pretty, blonde munchkin shrugs. "Ding dong, the witch is dead?"

Moxie, the chocolate-skinned munchkin, kneels next to the witch's protruding feet. "Who dropped this house on you, sugar?"

Manny, the lead investigator, sighs. "The list of possible suspects is as long as the yellow brick road."

"Maybe you should see who owns this house?" Moxie suggests.

Molly smiles brightly. "Let's ask the wizard!"

"Okay, but stay out of the poppy field, Molly."


	6. Crush

Title: Crush  
Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
Word count: 100  
Challenge: #4 _phase_

She tells herself it's just a phase she's going through. A silly schoolgirl crush. A harmless bit of hero-worship. Because he's without a doubt the most incredible man she knows, so what can she do but adore him?

It'll pass, she tells herself.

Four years later, her feelings have only intensified and she begins to wonder if she may have been wrong.

And maybe it's the schoolgirl inside her who decides it's about damn time something changed (because she's never this reckless with her heart).

She knocks on his office door, her heart hammering loudly inside her chest.

"Hey, Horatio."


	7. LJ prompts

For: **jeremybrettfan  
**Prompt: Horatio/Calleigh. Scotland. Blue.  
Word count: 100

Calleigh doesn't know why she agreed to speak at the ballistics conference; only, she's always wanted to visit Scotland. She's not sure how much time she'll have for sightseeing, but she's going to make an effort.

She wants to see the merriment in Horatio's blue eyes when she tells him she saw Nessie, even though she's nowhere near that particular loch.

It's only been three days, but she's surprised by how fiercely she misses him.

She wonders if he misses her too.

Later that night, after she checks her email, she goes to bed with a smile on her face.

* * *

For: **kait  
**Prompt: Horatio/Calleigh. Miami. Orange.  
Word count: 100

The sunset paints the sky in shades of pink and orange, and Calleigh is just a silhouette on the horizon. He watches her standing at the water's edge, her back to him, shoulders hunched slightly. She looks so broken that all he wants is to hold her close and tell her that he's been where she is and things will get better.

And maybe having her in his arms will finally reassure him that she's still alive. He could have lost her today, and that early panic hasn't completely left him.

_Officer down! It's Calleigh!_

He steps onto the sand.


	8. LJ

_Standalone drabbles. Originally posted on LJ._

He watches her dance, unable to look away for a moment. Not that he wants to. She is easily the most beautiful woman in the room.

He's not the only one who thinks so: another man has approached her, and Horatio frowns slightly. But she smiles, shakes her head, and the man moves away.

Then she looks at him, surprise crossing her features. But something else too. Pleasure.

She smiles again, a real one this time, and holds out her hand.

He thinks he's been waiting forever to dance with her.

Now she's in his arms, and he never wants to let go.

* * *

_So let's find a bar  
So dark we forget who we are  
And all the scars from the  
nevers and maybes die_

She's good at running; she's been running from one thing or another since she was sixteen years old. Now, even all the way in Las Vegas, she still sees Hagen blowing his brains out every time she closes her eyes.

She understands why her Daddy drinks. If she thought she could find wnough alcohol to drown the memory, she'd be drinking right now too -- and she wouldn't stop.

"Hey, Cal." Greg slides into the booth and smiles at her.

And in his arms she's able to forget, just for a little while.

She can't ask for more than that.

* * *

_And I would have stayed up with you all night had I known how to save a life_.

There is nothing left to say.

He sees her blood seep through his fingers; as hard as he presses down on the wound he can't make it close, can't undo it, can't make her stop bleeding. He keeps pressing anyway, because he has to do something while they wait for the ambulance. Anything.

Her hand slowly moves to cover his and he almost jerks at the contact. Her hand is cold and her blood is hot and when he raises his eyes to meet hers he almost forgets how to breathe.

Later, he sits in the hospital waiting room with her blood still on his hands as the surgeon tells him _I'm sorry, we did all we could_.

* * *

_If I lay here/If I just lay here/Would you lie with me and just forget the world? _(Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars)

Bright lights, the screech of metal on metal, a scream, and the classical station they liked providing a surreal soundtrack for the horror. In the stillness, her hand finds his and she turns her head to look at him. They're trapped, in the middle of nowhere, and completely alone.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah. You?"

A pause. "Yes." Then, "I can't move."

She tries to twist her body so she can look at him properly, but the seatbelt is stuck, and pain shoots through her. She gasps.

"Calleigh?"

"I'm okay." She manages to dial 911 on her cell phone, and holds Horatio's hand until the paramedics finally arrive, far too late to help him.

And only then does she cry.

* * *

Horatio has never been one for carnivals but he's learned that he cannot refuse his niece anything, and so here they are.

Madison's face lights up when she sees the cotton candy stand. She tugs at Horatio's hand. "Uncle 'Ratio, can we get?"

The cotton candy is too much for her, and Horatio is helping her finish it when he hears a chuckle from behind him.

"Now where's a camera when you need one?" Calleigh grins, then brushes her thumb over his cheek, removing the bit of sugar that had stuck there.

He grins back, extending the sweet. "Want some?"

* * *

He sends her tulips, her favourite, and writes _Miss You_ on the card, but doesn't sign his name. It's been three months since Hagen killed himself in front of her, and Calleigh has not yet returned to work.

Horatio is patient, but he doesn't know how much longer he can wait before he shows up on her doorstep and brings her back himself.

Of course, he realizes it's not so much about her returning to work, than about returning to him.

A week later the phone rings and he hears her voice for the first time in weeks. "Hey, Horatio."

* * *

It can't be true. Can't be, he repeats to himself as he speeds back to CSI headquarters. He'd know if something happened to Calleigh.

Wouldn't he?

Alexx meets him in the hallway and panic grips his heart. No, it can't be true.

"Horatio--"

He pushes past her, running the last few feet to the ballistics lab.

Calleigh's on the floor, her back against the wall, her arms hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes are glassy, unfocused.

Horatio steps around Hagen's body and kneels at Calleigh's side.

"Cal?"

Only when he holds her does she let herself cry.


	9. fast car

_For jeremybrettfan__ who asked for Horatio/Calleigh and snow._

Calleigh stares dubiously at the pair of skis before looking at Horatio. "You know, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all."

"I thought you wanted to go skiing."

She did; it's just that the skis are bigger than she thought, and the mountain steeper than she expected. She has visions of skiing off the edge of a cliff, or tumbling down the slope, turning into an enormous snowball the way it happens in cartoons.

Horatio looks far too smug for his own good and Calleigh decides she's up for the challenge after all. "Okay, Handsome. Let's go ski."

* * *

_For natushka who asked for Horatio/Calleigh and Fast Car._

_I remember we were driving, driving in your car/And I had a feeling that I belonged/And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone_

Calleigh almost didn't come to Miami. She liked New Orleans, liked her job, liked her colleagues, but the more she thought about Horatio's offer, the more she felt Miami beckoning.

That was years ago, and now Calleigh knows that it wasn't Miami that drew her; it was actually Horatio. These days, she cannot imagine her life without him in it.

Somewhere along the line he became her best friend, her confidante, and now, her lover. He treats her as his equal; she's always liked that about him.

There's nowhere else in the world she'd rather be than at his side.


End file.
